Text Fwd: NATO Of The South: Chile, South Africa, Australia, Antarctica

* StopNATO*
NATO Of The South: Chile, South Africa, Australia, Antarctica
May 30, 2009, Rick Rozoff

Two days ago Carolina Toha, spokeswoman for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, stated that "Chile has developed strategic ties with the United States since long ago" and expressed her government's eagerness to expand them. [1]

Employing the standard rationale of sharing "more similarity with the Obama administration" than with its predecessor, a pose adopted by world politicians of all stripes since the US presidential election of last November 4th - including conservatives like France's Nicholas Sarkozy - the Chilean statement could be seen as nothing more than desiring to be on the winning side and to curry favor with the new Planitarchus (lord of the planet), as Greek demonstrators who curtailed a proposed three-day visit to Athens in November of 1999 of Obama's predecessor once removed, Bill Clinton, described the post of US president.

Even if so, however, Chile's stance is at variance with the prevailing trend throughout South and all of Latin America, with nations like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Argentina and most recently El Salvador moving away from a "special relationship" with Washington, especially in the military sphere, and promoting multilateral international ties, notably defense agreements with Russia and a general orientation toward new multipolar international security and economic arrangements.

An equally revealing news report surfaced two weeks ago concerning an agreement signed by the foreign ministers of Chile and the Czech Republic on creating a legal framework for cooperation in Antarctica, to which Chile lays both longstanding and expanding claims.

The Czech Republic is no ordinary European nation but a post-Cold War zealot, full of new convert fervor, devotedly serving American and NATO interests in the Eastern and Central sections of the continent and acting as the intermediary for Washington and Brussels in several international capacities, from waging information and diplomatic offensives against countries like Belarus and Cuba to offering to host US third position interceptor missile radar and providing troops for the war in Afghanistan, there serving under NATO (International Security Assistance Force) and direct US (Operation Enduring Freedom) commands.

A battle royal is in progress for securing control over the vast Antarctic region and its hitherto untapped oil, gas, mineral, fresh water and fishing resources and potential. The Antarctic's strategic military value is increasing in importance commensurately, as is that of the Arctic Circle on the opposite end of the earth. The subject has been explored in an earlier article in this series, Scramble For World Resources: Battle For Antarctica. [2]

The four countries directly north of the Antarctic Ocean are Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and all four are to varying degrees being integrated into Western military alliances; all four have bilateral military ties to the United States and with other NATO states, three directly with NATO itself.

With Britain filing a claim with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on May 11th of this year for one million square kilometers of the South Atlantic and Antarctic Oceans and Australia being granted 2.5 million more square kilometers in the Antarctic Ocean by the same UN Commission last year (the Australian Antarctic Territory takes in 42% of Antarctica) the region is now arguably one of the most closely contested territorial - and resource and strategic - disputes in the world.

Seven countries have formal claims to Antarctica: Three NATO states in Europe, two British Commonwealth nations in the South Pacific and two South American countries, respectively Britain, France and Norway; Australia and New Zealand; and Argentina and Chile. The Argentine, British and Chilean claims all overlap at places.

Peru, Russia, South Africa and the United States have reserved the right to future claims on Antarctic territory and Brazil has designated what it refers to as a zone of interest in the region.

Of the seven official claimants, five are members of what is generally considered the Western world, geography aside, leaving only Chile and Argentina as rivals to them.

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Text Fwd: Reply to Cordaro report: Plowshares action at fighter jets factory, Sweden - March 22, 2009

* Image source*
http://www.ofog.org/node/1995

Text fwd by Per Herngren and Frank Cordaro

Disarmers arrested at weapons factory in Linköping, Sweden

Fifth plowshares/disarmament action in Sweden since June 2008

In the early morning of March 22th three disarmers were arrested at
Saab Aerospace Systems’ weapons factory in Linköping, Sweden. Martin
Smedjeback, Annika Spalde and Pelle Strindlund were on their way to
disarm Jas 39 Gripen fighter jets, planes intended for export to
India, Thailand and South Africa. The peace activists, who are all
part of the anti-militaristic network Ofog, entered Saab’s industry
area in Linköping by cutting holes in the barbed wire fence
surrounding the area. Once inside they held a silent minute, dedicated
to the twenty children that die every minute because of poverty in a
world that invests more money in weapons than in fighting poverty.

In 2010 the Indian air defense will order 126 Jas 39 Gripen fighter
jets. Saab is currently marketing these jets in India with much
support from the Swedish government. If Saab gets the contract,
Swedish jets could be loaded with weapons of mass destruction, as part
of the Indian nuclear weapon program.

– India’s 200 billion starving citizens don’t need expensive fighter
jets. What they need is food and clean water. When I was in India in
February, I saw the widespread poverty with my own eyes. Several
Indian organizations begged us Swedes to stop the weapons export to
their country, says Martin Smedjeback, 35, non-violence educator.

As a symbol of the Indian resistance the activists put a picture of
the Indian activist Elsey Jacob on the fence before going inside. A
picture of the South African bishop Desmond Tutu was also put up. Tutu
is working to make his government cancel the Jas 39 Gripen affair. In
1999 Saab managed to sell 28 Jas 39 Gripen to South Africa to a total
of 17 billion Swedish crowns. South African social movements criticize
this affair of being bribed. Beside, many critics claim that this
weapon affair is taking resources from fighting poverty and HIV in
South Africa.

– I simply can not accept that my country, by its weapons export,
breeds conflicts and poverty. Sweden will deliver six Jas 39 Gripen to
Thailand, despite the fact that the chief of Thai air defense declared
in public that the planes will be used in the armed conflict in the
southern parts of the country. The affair with South Africa is just as
objectionable. According to the South African Christian council, the
agreement should be stopped immediately. According to them the
country’s largest enemy is poverty and that the money is needed for
that struggle, says Annika Spalde, 39, author and lay worker in The
Swedish church.

– In general, we should follow the law, but senseless obedience is not
in any way worth striving for. Civil disobedience by peacefully
objecting the law, can be an obligation in certain situations. When
governments and companies cooperate to export weapons to poor
countries and conflict zones, it is ordinary citizens’ duty to
intervene, says Pelle Strindlund, 37, author.

The action in Linköping, Sweden, is part of the campaign ”Avrusta”
(Disarm) launched in the autumn of 2008. By public opinion raising and
civil disobedience actions, the campaign aims to stop the Swedish
weapons export. In October 2008, two coordinated disarmament actions
took place in the towns of Karlskoga and Eskilstuna. Parts for
howitzer canon (FH77), going to India, and grenade launchers Carl
Gustaf, used by the American army in Iraq, were disarmed. Two of the
activists were sentenced to three months prison and demands of 220 000
Swedish crowns, and two other activists to four months in prison.

You find more information at www.avrusta.se. There you also find video
material from the action at the Jas 39 Gripen factory in Linköping,
and photos of the activists. All this material is free for use.

Double plowshares action in Sweden June 24 and 25, 2008
http://ickevald.net/plowshares/

Double disarmament action in Sweden October 16 2008
http://www.ofog.org/node/1311

For more information:
Telephone: +46733815361
E-mail: avrusta[a] ofog.org

--
Frank Cordaro
Phil Berrigan CW House
713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314
(515) 282-4781 www.DesMoinesCatholicWorker.org